Marcus Ericsson has labelled Formula 1 as “artificial” following his first test in an IndyCar ahead of his 2019 debut.
The Swede was dropped by Sauber after five seasons in F1 after being predominantly outclassed by rookie Charles Leclerc and with Kimi Raikkonen keen to continue his career after being dropped by Ferrari.
Ericsson will remain in a reserve driver role which he has already criticised and now it seems America is already bringing benefits as he teamed up with Schmidt Peterson Motorsport for the first time at Sebring.
“I’d never seen these cars live before,” he said of the IndyCars. “It was cool to see the other guys go out. The car looks really cool. I’ve watched a lot of clips on the internet to prepare myself for this.
“This sort of gets me back to why I fell in love with racing.”
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This year saw America’s premier open-wheel series overhaul the design of the cars with less downforce and the goal of making the racing better.
Commenting on the main differences between the two, Ericsson admitted the IndyCar allowed for what many have believe F1 has been lacking in recent years.
“F1 is always going to be F1, you know? But it’s sort of a bit artificial in some ways. You always go to these perfect places, and that’s not racing, I would say. This takes me back to the passion of racing,” he said.
“As a driver, you have to work this car a lot more. F1 always starts from perfection, whereas here you have to deal with the car you have and then sort of perfect it. It’s a lot more work from the driver. That’s the biggest difference.”